Publisher Description

At the close of the nineteenth century, the Democratic Party in North Carolina engineered a white supremacy revolution. Frustrated by decades of African American self-assertion and threatened by an interracial coalition advocating democratic reforms, white conservatives used violence, demagoguery, and fraud to seize political power and disenfranchise black citizens. The most notorious episode of the campaign was the Wilmington "race riot" of 1898, which claimed the lives of many black residents and rolled back decades of progress for African Americans in the state.

Published on the centennial of the Wilmington race riot, "Democracy Betrayed" draws together the best new scholarship on the events of 1898 and their aftermath. Contributors to this important book hope to draw public attention to the tragedy, to honor its victims, and to bring a clear and timely historical voice to the debate over its legacy.

The contributors are David S. Cecelski, William H. Chafe, Laura F. Edwards, Raymond Gavins, Glenda E. Gilmore, John Haley, Michael Honey, Stephen Kantrowitz, H. Leon Prather Sr., Timothy B. Tyson, LeeAnn Whites, and Richard Yarborough.

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Twelve essays on the Wilmington "race riot" of 1898

Author Biography

David S. Cecelski is the Lehman Brady Joint Chair Professor in Documentary and American Studies at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A native of the North Carolina coast, he is author of several books, including Along Freedom Road: Hyde County, North Carolina, and the Fate of Black Schools in the South, and coeditor of Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and its Legacy.

Table of Contents

ContentsForeword by John Hope Franklin Preface Introduction / Timothy B. Tyson and David S. Cecelski We Have Taken a City: A Centennial Essay / H. Leon Prather Sr. Abraham H. Galloway: Wilmington's Lost Prophet and the Rise of Black Radicalism in the American South / David S. Cecelski Murder, Memory, and the Flight of the Incubus / Glenda E. Gilmore The Two Faces of Domination in North Carolina, 1800-1898 / Stephen Kantrowitz Captives of Wilmington: The Riot and Historical Memories of Political Conflict, 1865-1898 / Laura F. Edwards Love, Hate, Rape, Lynching: Rebecca Latimer Felton and the Gender Politics of Racial Violence / LeeAnn Whites Class, Race, and Power in the New South: Racial Violence and the Delusions of White Supremacy / Michael Honey Fear, Hope, and Struggle: Recasting Black North Carolina in the Age of Jim Crow / Raymond Gavins Race, Rhetoric, and Revolution / John Haley Violence, Manhood, and Black Heroism: The Wilmington Riot in Two Turn-of-the-Century African American Novels / Richard Yarborough Wars for Democracy: African American Militancy and Interracial Violence in North Carolina during World War II / Timothy B. Tyson Epilogue from Greensboro, North Carolina: Race and the Possibilities of American Democracy / William H. Chafe Acknowledgments Contributors Index

Review

An extraordinarily rich and thoughtful collection of essays."Journal of American History" [I]t shows national trends and social processes with local concreteness."Southern Cultures" "The overall quality of this volume, along with the skill and consistency with which it is edited, is unusually high."North Carolina Historical Review"" "The essays offer us a rich understanding of the complex historical interplay of race, gender, and social class."Journal of Southern History"" The overall quality of this volume, along with the skill and consistency with which it is edited, is unusually high."North Carolina Historical Review" The essays offer us a rich understanding of the complex historical interplay of race, gender, and social class."Journal of Southern History" YIt shows national trends and social processes with local concreteness."Southern Cultures"

Long Description

At the close of the nineteenth century, the Democratic Party in North Carolina engineered a white supremacy revolution. Frustrated by decades of African American self-assertion and threatened by an interracial coalition advocating democratic reforms, white conservatives used violence, demagoguery, and fraud to seize political power and disenfranchise black citizens. The most notorious episode of the campaign was the Wilmington "race riot" of 1898, which claimed the lives of many black residents and rolled back decades of progress for African Americans in the state.Published on the centennial of the Wilmington race riot,Democracy Betrayeddraws together the best new scholarship on the events of 1898 and their aftermath. Contributors to this important book hope to draw public attention to the tragedy, to honor its victims, and to bring a clear and timely historical voice to the debate over its legacy.The contributors are David S. Cecelski, William H. Chafe, Laura F. Edwards, Raymond Gavins, Glenda E. Gilmore, John Haley, Michael Honey, Stephen Kantrowitz, H. Leon Prather Sr., Timothy B. Tyson, LeeAnn Whites, and Richard Yarborough.

Review Quote

The overall quality of this volume, along with the skill and consistency with which it is edited, is unusually high.North Carolina Historical Review

Promotional "Headline"

"[This book's] influence need not be limited to Wilmington. Because it shows national trends and social processes with local concreteness, Democracy Betrayed will be useful in courses on southern history or U.S. race relations."-- Southern Cultures

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